It was
Diwali last friday.
Basically, it's a festival of lights. We decorate our homes, exchange sweets and do all the fun stuff with crackers and firework, and light candles both within and without the house. Well, lighting candles is my favourite part. I love all that nicely moulded wax, contained within glass or otherwise. As for bursting crackers, I avoid that at any cost. It's not that I'm going green; it's just that I don't like that level of noise, although the excitement it induces within people is infectious. But I'm glad to declare that people are going green. Must be a gargantuan task for cracker lovers.
When I saw the firework bursting in the sky, I could not help remembering
Katy Perry's "Firework". Critics describe the song as a towering anthem aimed directly at lifting
self esteem. My favourite lines from the lyrics are:
You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, you cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow.
Maybe you're a reason why all the doors are closed
So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road.
Now, I just want you to see firework whenever you get a chance, watch it burst in midair against the black sky and feel the thrill of the moment. And I want you to think- what if that firework were you? What if
you were the one shooting across the sky in a fantastic burst of colour, leaving the whole world wonderstruck with your light? The truth is- you
are a firework. Each one of us has got a spark, we just need to "ignite the light".
As we grow, we acquire different experiences that shape our beliefs, self image and perception of life. Some of these are positive, some are negative. Some are even traumatic. As a teenager, you might feel that you don't fit in, and this thought alone can be disastrous on your self esteem. You must understand that you don't need to change yourself to fell accepted. You don't need to spend your teenage regretting your decisions, wishing for a chance to start it all over again. Don't be afraid to express who you are on the inside, and don't let your flaws stop you from having a great life, doing what you want to do.
Just be original, however out of place it might make you feel at first, because you cannot be anything unless you become yourself! Each person has a spark- a gift; it's upto you to make it a firework.
Jack Kerouac, the American novelist and poet writes "
They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"..."
